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FRUIT PICKER.

No. 339,549. Patented Apr. 6,4886.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @risica CHARLES S. HILL, OF OUMRU, BEBKS COUNTY,ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF THREE-FOURTHS TO GEORGE L.KNOPI, .I AMES R. MILLER, AND VELLING'ION VAN REED, ALL OF READING, PA.

FRUIT-PICKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Leners Patent No. 339,549. aaien Aprn6,1886,

Application filed Scptcn'xber4,185. Serial No. 176,19U. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES S. HILL, a citizen of the United States,residing in Cuxnru township, county of Berks, State of Pennsyl- Vania,have invented a new and useful In1- provelnent in Fruit-Pickers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of fruitpickers which are providedwith an elastic 1o tube leading from the picker-jaws to a bag suspendedfrom the shoulders of the operator.

The object of the improvement is to secure an effective picker, easilyconstructed, readily used, not liable to derung-ement, and which I 5 maybe cheaply constructed.

The above objects are attained in the fruitpicker shown in theaccompanying drawings, similarletters of reference indicating likeparts.

Figure 1 represent-s in perspective the improved fruit-picker attachedto the pole, with the tube leading from the movable jaw to the operatorbelow; Fig. 2, a full front elevation of the saine.. Fig. 3 representsthe jaws or frames divested of their covering, showing the manner inwhich the wire is wrapped upon the stiiiening-bar.

The frames of the picker are usually constructed of spring-wire of aboutthree thirty seconds of an'inch diameter, bent over suitable 3o templetsin the form of a wagon-bow. The xed bow A, which is slightly less inheight and width than the movable bow B, has its lower ends, A', left ofsuitable length to be bent inward toward each other, and these ends arewrapped spirally around a bar, I, in reverse direction relative to eachother, with a pitch of about three diameters of the wire, until, meetingat the center of the bar, the extreme ends are left straight land in avertical position, forming tangs A?, for attachment tothe pole. Themovable bow Bis treated in the same manner as to bending to forni,and,commencing outside of the fixed bow A upon the bar I, the free endsB are wrapped spirally be- 4 5 tween the coils ofthe ends Aof the fixedbow A until the center of bar I is reached, when the ends are projectedforward at right angles with the face of the bows, and at about one inchor more from the bar are recurved to form looped leversBZ. An openlink,C, connects thelooped 5o levers B2, and to the same link is attached byan integral eye, D', a spiral re-enforce spring,A D, of aboutthree-eighths of an inch diameter, and of about one-sixteenth of an inchdiameter spring-wire. A second open link, E, at- 5 5 tached to the lowerend of the spiral spring by an integral eye, D', serves to put anyrequisite grip upon the movable jaw or bow B, and a screw-eye pin, F,bearing against the lower inner edge of the link E, retains the 6ospring at the desired tension.

To put the device into working form,a pole,

G, of suitable length being provided, thebows or jaws AB, interlockedwith each other upon the bar I, as described, are set vertically upon 65 the end of thepole G, and the free or tang ends A2 of the fixed jaw orbow A are driven into the end of the same, the bar I keeping the devicein a rm and operative condition thereon. The spiral spring D beingconnected, as de- 7o scribed, to the looped levers B2 of the movable jawor bow B, it is drawn downward by the link E, and the screw-eye pin Finserted into the pole G. This makes a picker out of the combination byt-he si mplc attach ment of a cord 7 5 to the top of the movable bow B;butif so used the fruit would drop to the ground and be bruised. Toprevent such bruising and enable the operator to gather the mostdelicate fruits without injury to the same, I cover' the fixed So bow Awith a light but strong fabric, leaving a tail of thcsamematerialprojecting some two or more inches below the bar I. To the movable bowor jaw B, I attach by its edges an openmouth tube, II, connecting thesame to the ixed cover ofthe iixed bow by the tail-piece described. Thetube is made of suoli length that it shall reach from the top of thepole to the usual fruit-gathering bag suspended from the shoulders ofthe operator, and of such di- 9o anieter as willpass the fruit to bepicked.

To operate the complete device, the pole is raised to the fruit to bepicked, the movable jaw B is made to open by pulling upon the tube H,and, the fruit being caughtbetwoen thetwo jaws or bows A B and the tubereleased, the fruit is caught between and pulled from the branch, anddrops through the tube l-I to the bag of the operator. Resistance totherapid descent of the fruit is obtained by grasping the i tube above thebag or twisting the same.

I make no claim to the tube as a chute for 5 the fruit, as I am awarethat it is an old device; but I believe myself to be the first to attachit to the movable jaw, and to use it for both an operating andfruit-delivering purpose.

I am also aware that wire frames have been tially as shown anddescribed, the combina` tion of the re-enforce tensional spring D withthe movable tube-frame B of the tube H `by eyes D', links C E, loopedlever-arms Bbar I, pole G, and pin F, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

2; In a fruit-picker constructed substantially as shown and described,the combination of the fixed covered frame A, the moval ble tube-mouthframe or j aW B, stiffening-bar I, coil A', tangs A?, springs B', looped1ever.

arms B2, link C, re-enforce spring D, eyes D', link E, pin F, pole G,and tube H, all arranged and adapted to be operated as and for thepurpose set forth.

CHARLES s. HILL.

fitnessesz JAMES R, KENNEY, H. P. KEIsER,

